Ever Fallen in Love
by Geniusology
Summary: Adam's done with Bianca and he's done with Fiona. He can't stop himself from getting protective over Bianca though. Plus it's not exactly easy to avoid someone you work with every day.
1. Egyptian Plover

**CHAPTER ONE: EGYPTIAN PLOVER**

**Adam's POV**

"_Adam? Adam, what are you thinking about now?"_

_I'm so-so-so sorry, Adam_

The words skipped around in my mind's eye like a scratched up movie disk. I rested my right hand under my chin and kept my eyes closed while I breathed as calmly as possible. "In through the nose, out through the mouth," is what my mother would've said to me about now. But she wasn't in the room with me. The only people occupying the Roman-like room were me and my current therapist. My mom had gone through a complete frenzy when she'd found out about Fiona dumping me at the end of my junior year in high school. Naturally neither I nor Drew had explained _why _I'd been dumped. We'd just said it had something to do with her being too far away from me.

And my mom being my mom had immediately begun worrying about me going into deep depression or anything of the sort in that category. But I wasn't Drew. When Drew had found Bianca cheating on him in an alley, he'd started acting all melodramatic. And he barely came out of his room unless it was mandatory and involved going to school, using the bathroom, or taking a shower. Other than that, he was a prisoner of his own sad, sad soul. Mom had left all of his meals outside of his room for two months. _Two months! _

I had always thought he was overreacting, but I'd gotten my own taste of the break-up blues before the summer. Having to say goodbye to Fiona had really, really hurt me. But when I found out about Bianca's little game she'd played, her hand had grabbed a hold of my heart and had squeezed tight. And clearly the grip she'd had on my heart had been tight enough to give me a few bad dreams every now and then. Not bad like the ones Drew had had, but they were…bad.

_People change, Adam-Adam-Adam-Adam_

"Adam!"

"Hm?" I jumped a little bit in my place on the Victorian loveseat. The fabric was rough and had an ugly golden-like tinge to it. But the intertwining lines blending in with the fabric were chaotic. I hated this loveseat. It reminded me of Bianca.

Dr. Mendel's eyebrow's met above his nose, and there was a worried glint in his eyes. His eyes intrigued me. They were a funky electric green color right now. But if I waited a little longer they might switch back to evergreen again. Perhaps it was the lighting. His office did have poor lighting after all.

"You looked lost there for a second, Adam? Were you thinking about something or perhaps someone?" He arched a sand-colored eyebrow at me.

"Um, no, I was just thinking about school. It starts back up in a couple of weeks actually," I lied. I was only lying about me thinking of school. Whether I liked it or not, school really was starting in only two weeks from today. I'd finally be a senior.

"School, eh?" Dr. Mendel didn't buy it. But if he got more money from our session, what did he care, right? "Are you looking forward to seeing any of your friends?"

"Most of my friends graduated last year. But I guess you could say I'm excited to see some of them."

I'd already told him about what had gone down with Bianca before the summer, so what he asked next didn't surprise me or make me look at him funny. "And what about Bianca? Are you excited to see her?"

I thought of the first thing to say back to his sudden remark. "Bianca graduated last year."

"But you did say that your friend Eli who graduated last year was still in town, didn't you?" he asked after scribbling something down with his pen. The scratching noise was imprinted in my brain.

"But that's Eli. Bee…I mean Bianca was smart. Smarter than most people gave her credit for. The likes are that she got accepted to a good medical school and that she's traveling out of Canada as we speak."

"Is that what you'd like to happen, Adam? For her to leave?"

"What? No," _liar_, "I just figured she'd be gone by now. Honestly I don't care what she does or where she goes. She's not a part of my life anymore."

Dr. Mendel made a sound in the back of his throat. I couldn't figure out what exactly that sound had meant. I counted the number of _ticks _that came from the clock while he scratched across his notebook with a pen. I sat and waited while he continued to scribble. I thought about big brown eyes while I waited. I hated those big brown eyes. They reminded me of mud.

_I know that I'm not a reasonable choice to you-you-you_

A smile crept across Dr. Mendel's slightly wrinkled face. "I suppose we're still not getting very far on the subject of Bianca, so I'll try something else. How have your nightmares been?"

Nightmares… Honestly I think that my mom is overreacting about my so called "nightmares". I mean, if they really were nightmares, wouldn't I remember them a lot better? Drew only tells me that I tend to say a certain someone's name in my sleep and groan a lot. I've woken up on the floor once or twice, nothing too bad. My mom's just doing her job by being a worry wart. Because I'm fine. I'm okay. Even if no one seems to believe that I'm not okay, I am okay. I haven't been acting differently or anything. Maybe my mom's just going crazy.

"I already told you; I don't have nightmares. They're just recurring dreams," I complained softly. I kept my eyes on the floor the whole time. There was the scratching sound of paper being written on for a short moment before Dr. Mendel continued. "Okay, so how have your recurring dreams been? Have you been having them often?"

"Actually, I haven't been sleeping at all."

"Too much on your mind? Or maybe _somebody _on your mind?"

I let my walls come down. I never was able to keep a secret from Dr. Mendel for a long time anyways. I might as well just rip the bandage off. "Yes, I have been thinking about Bianca."

Dr. Mendel looked a little taken aback by my sudden use of her name. But he never broke eye contact with me. "What comes to mind when you think of her, Adam? Are you angry, depressed, disappointed…scared?"

My heart was rattling up a storm in my chest. "I'm not scared of Bianca. I'm scared of myself… I'm scared of what I'll do when I see her. I've got so much hate built up because of her."

"Because of what she did to you." It sounded more like a statement than a question, but I nodded anyways. I didn't have much to say anymore. Just talking about Bianca took so much energy out of me. I didn't hate her. I wasn't mad at her. I just really wish I could go back in time and stop her from doing all of that to me. She made me fall in love with her and then she practically stuck a foot up my ass. What had I ever done to deserve that? Nothing, that's what. I'd never done anything horrible to Bianca. She's the one who had ruined my life _twice_! I'd rather she'd never shown up in my life at all. It would've saved me a lot of pain and heartache.

Dr. Mendel's eyes glanced at the clock on the wall. I followed his gaze. The bird carved into the top of the clock mocked me with a smug grin. "Time flies by so fast when I'm with you, Adam. It seems our session has ended. But I'll see you next Saturday at two o'clock sharp."

"Sure," was the only thing I could muster out of my arid throat. What else was I supposed to say?


	2. Pubescent Encounters

**CHAPTER TWO: PUBESCENT ENCOUNTERS**

**Adam's POV**

The sun watched me from above with a wicked grin on its face. That big stupid orange ball of heat knew how hot it was making me right now. I was already sweaty because I'd been boxing in the community gym with a guy who looked like he should be in college about now. I'd won 2 out of 3 matches with him today. He'd gotten lucky on the last one. Now I was running down the sidewalk passing pedestrians while wearing a pair of grey harem sweatpants, a fitted Boston Red Sox baseball cap, and a neon purple t-shirt. My gym bag was thrown over my shoulder holding my tennis shoes, a pair of basketball shorts, and a plain white muscle shirt.

I glanced at someone's phone as I turned the corner. It was almost two o'clock. I needed to pick up the pace or I was going to be late to work again. Eli couldn't keep sticking up for me forever. He had a job to keep, too. I saw a few people sitting at the tables outside of The Dot when I eventually reached my destination. There weren't any people inside besides a bored looking Eli standing behind the counter with a sleepy look in his eyes. But the sound of the bell signaling my entrance definitely woke him up. He took one look at my red face and held back a snicker. He jerked his thumb towards the back and said, "You've got three minutes to get changed into your uniform, Robin."

I huffed a thanks and ran to the back where I could change into my uniform in private. It only took a couple minutes to change into the black slacks, black t-shirt, and black apron that read _The Dot _in white letters. I was back behind the counter with Eli with barely a minute to spare. Eli smirked at me while I brushed my hair back into a windblown looking style with my fingers. My bangs were soaked with sweat, and my cheeks were still tinted with a faded red color. I needed to get a car soon. Once I had a car I wouldn't have to run back and forth between the gym, baseball practice, and The Dot constantly. And things would get even more difficult once school started on Monday.

"I like the new hair style, Prince Charming," Eli commented with an amused tone in his raspy voice. My own voice was starting to sound a bit raspier these days as a matter of fact. I didn't have to purposely lower it every time I said something out loud anymore either. "Thanks, I do, too," I shot back just in time. He laughed at our innocent joking and turned around just in time to see Peter enter The Dot.

"It's nice to see you on time today, Torres." I flashed a sarcastic smile and looked back down at my phone. One missed call from Bianca. That's weird. She hadn't tried to contact me in a while. I blew it off and stuck my phone back into the pocket of my black slacks.

"We've got a new employee stopping by this afternoon. I'd like it if you two could show them the ropes and such."

"Lovely," I muttered.

"Great," Eli commented beside me. We both shared a look before Peter gave his thanks and left us with the trendy diner. We didn't get much business today anyways, so all we really did was talk about upcoming concerts planned to happen nearby and some new bands we'd found on Youtube. We were munching on some Fritos and drinking energy drinks when the bell rang to signal someone's entrance around five o'clock.

The boyish grins on our faces disappeared when we saw who was standing in The Dot now. She looked about the same with dark curls framing her shoulders and cobalt blue eyes. But why was she in town? My mouth gaped. Eli just stared with a shocked look in his green eyes. Fiona didn't say anything notable to us as she approached the counter and sat at one of the barstools with a purse flung over her shoulder. "Fiona?" I asked, a little taken aback by her nonchalant mood.

"It's been awhile," she responded with a short smile on her pink lips. "Can I get an almond milk latte, please?"

"Coming right up." Eli gave us both a rare smile before he began moving around to prepare her latte. I watched him for a moment before turning back to her. She was looking at me with a friendly glint in her eyes. The last time she'd looked at me like that was in March. Right now it was September.

I took control over my emotions and leaned on the counter for support. "What are you doing in Toronto?"

She smiled casually and answered, "I got a job as a teacher's assistant for Ms. Oh until Christmas break. I start on Monday."

I did my best to hide my shock and forced a proud smile on my now paled face. "That's great, Fiona. I'm happy for you."

Fiona smiled back at me and studied my face closely. It seemed that even she could see that I'd hit "puberty" over the summer. My face still had that baby look to it, but it wasn't as feminine now. My style of clothing still consisted of gray skinny jeans that hung off of my hips just enough to make my mom mad and harem styled sweatpants. And my hair was usually just brushed around with my hands. I didn't spend much time on it like Drew still did. I wasn't one of those jocks who worked out constantly in the gym, but I tried to keep my body in shape for soccer and baseball season.

"One almond milk latte." Eli interrupted our stare down and slid the Styrofoam cup towards the socialite who I knew best for being my ex. "It's on the house today, Ms. Coyne."

"It won't be Ms. Coyne for long," she said to him with a sly toothy smile on her gorgeous face. Something caught in my throat, and Eli looked at me with nervous eyes. "I'm sorry?" he asked her with a confused smirk.

"Jeffrey proposed last month. We're getting married ten months from now in Bora-Bora," she announced. Fiona held out her left hand to flash a silver ring with three big diamonds studded at the top. I had half a mind to snatch the ring off of her finger and fling it out the door. But something was holding me back. Maybe it was the sick feeling settling in the pit of my stomach while I stared at the ring. There was a fiery feeling in my throat that made me think about the first time Drew and I had snuck into my mom's alcohol cabinet. I had just come up with a poor excuse about calling my mom and letting her know I'd be staying with Clare tonight when the bell rang over the entrance door again.

Fiona looked over her shoulder to see who our customer was. She didn't look very happy to see who had decided to visit us on this lovely Thursday afternoon. The Latina girl was wearing the same type of sweatpants I'd been wearing earlier and a lightweight shirt that showed the straps of her black sports bra. She had a pair of high-top tennis shoes to complete the outfit and a gray tote bag slung over her shoulder. Bianca looked like she'd just come back from dance practice.

"Can I help you?" Eli stepped back in front of the counter and watched Bianca carefully. I hadn't told him or Clare about how I'd been with Bianca or what she'd really been planning for me in the end. Eli didn't even know that I'd cheated on Fiona with Bianca at all. All he knew was that Fiona and I had recently broke up and that Bianca had tried to get me to cheat on her at the beginning of last year. Bianca looked at him for a second before glancing at me. I was watching Fiona who looked like she was about to lunge at Bianca's throat any moment now.

"I'm the new employee. Peter said for me to stop by so that one of you could show me the basics before I start working here." Her voice sounded the same. Then again why would it sound any different than it had in March? She basically looked the same too. Bianca looked just as spicy, just as tempting, and just as manipulative as she had looked the last time I'd seen her. I swallowed another pill in my throat and gave Eli a hopeful look. He grumbled something under his breath and approached Bianca.

"Okay, hot tamale, let me give you the certified tour," he said with a smirk. To my surprise she actually smiled back and followed him to the back of the diner where I'd changed into my work clothes just a couple hours ago. I kept my head down as she passed me, but Fiona didn't even try to hide the hateful look in her eyes. They disappeared past the doors, leaving me alone with the bride-to-be.

"What's _she _doing here?" Fiona shot at me as soon as Bianca was gone with Eli. I glared at Fiona, feeling a hot wave of anger bubble up in my gut. I didn't quite understand what the angry feeling meant. Before, when I'd been with Bianca, I used to get that exact same feeling every time Clare or anyone else said something bad about Bianca. Those feeling were gone, but for some reason I was still having some sort of sense of protectiveness towards her.

I shook the look from my face and shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. Just act like you don't care, Adam. Make it look like you could care less about what Bianca's doing. Even though, technically, you do sort of still care. "I guess Peter offered her a job here. Nothing I could do about it now."

Fiona said, "I thought you hated her."

"I don't hate her," I answered, a little annoyed by Fiona. "I don't really care about her right now. I have other things to worry about like college and maybe a baseball scholarship."

"You're still playing baseball?"

"I'm the best first baseman they'll ever see," I said to her before smirking and winking. She rolled her eyes before taking another sip of her almond milk latte. I couldn't stop looking at the ring sitting on her finger. The same words kept flashing through my mind: _If you hadn't cheated, she could be engaged to you right now. _


End file.
